It’s an experience living in another country one that surpasses even the words at times. But the experiences are what make up the hours, days, and months and years.

I wander the streets and passages of the city here and get lost looking up, or peeking around a corner. Sometimes I trip over the stones beneath my feet because of the distraction that the art on the wall brings or the smell of the coffee from the bar.

Yes, here you go to the bar everyday if you want because this is where you meet up, catch up, or take a lesson in Italian.

You hear words around you, some you understood some sound like babble, but the gestures that’s what tells more of a story than even the words.

This is what it is like to learn a new language, to feel a culture.

I came here to experience this feeling of being surrounded by people, of living life each day moment by moment, of forcing myself to learn, to grow, to be. There are so many writers, who escape into a place not knowing how to connect with others, I wanted to learn how to be okay with being disconnected.

I have learned that I am a strong independent woman who can feel the quiet, not just sit with it, but live it and that makes me who I am.

So often it is said, one needs to learn how to be happy with yourself and who you are but in order to make this statement true you have have to know yourself.

I have that here. Change is hard and leaving what you know is even more difficult, but when it happens whether by force or choice one must adapt.

I often think of it in cooking terms.

The fire is hot under the pot and in an instant you can start burning the food. So a good cook knows, by observing, and with experience, to be patient and waits and watch and then to adapt. Sometimes the you have to turn the heat down, sometimes you have to remove the pan, or stir the ingredients, but regardless of what you do, something has to change in order to adapt. Sometimes change has to happen in increments, little by little.

The sky here in Perugia reminds me of how often change happens. Almost everyday it is a different color from morning to afternoon. The sky can be Blue and sunny like the puffy white clouds of the Carolina Blue skies, or it can be gray, misty, and wet like the skies of Seattle, then by late afternoon the sun pops out and creates golden gems in the sky reminding me of the sunsets of California.

Often at sunset I see others walking the street bundled up, it’s December after all, and they are returning from the market, bag and umbrella in hand, but still they stop a moment, and glance at the skies, because you just can’t help it.

The beauty takes my breath away. I know very cliche, but it truly does.

I often try to grab my camera out of my bag and grasp the moment, but other times, I stop, I look, and I pause. It’s not all about the scenery or the lifestyle here though, it’s about learning everyday with your eyes,ears,nose, etc.

Stay tuned, and sign up to follow my italian adventures in Italy. There will be more on what it’s like learning a new language in a foreign country… Have you learned a new language? Lived in a foreign country? Send me your comments and stories below, I am waiting to hear about them!

Until then, to Italy with love.